Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

[mnstate0fhockey]

Not sure who said they were doing us any favors, as that's obviously not the case. Certainly no more than Boston College - who has won it all three of the past six years - is doing us a favor by scheduling us.

I just don't get why Notre Dame's "national name recognition" should play any factor in whether we play them or not. Are people saying that if they got rid of Jeff Jackson and fell back into a period of mediocrity they would still be an attractive opponent?

I don't think the fact they are a nationally recognized opponent for football has any bearing on how attractive they are as an opponent for hockey.

Like someone said above as a reason why we shouldn't hold the fact they won't play us in football against them in hockey, "football has it's own traditions".

If our program is at the point where we need nationally recognized football schools as opponents to bring in hockey fans, our program is in Wisconsin territory trouble

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

I don't mind playing Notre Dame either, but let's stop acting like they're doing us favors. If anything, it's the other way around in this sport. (Replied to you, but not directed at you).

Not sure who said they were doing us any favors, as that's obviously not the case. Certainly no more than Boston College - who has won it all three of the past six years - is doing us a favor by scheduling us.

[mnstate0fhockey]

The Saturday game (watching options) was a joke, ND you guys sure are lucky to have such a great TV package. (laughs hysterically)

It was really bad. I turned it off after the first 10 minutes and listened to Wally and Frank.

[mnstate0fhockey]

Calm down. It's not that name recognition is doing anythign for us. But consider four team names, assume they are all equally ranked in polls/PWR/Krach.

Notre Dame
RPI
Quinipiac
Boston University.

Which two opponents will be most interesting to people? Even if all 4 teams are identical in every way 95% of people would rather play ND and BU.

And sorry, I am not very good at tone via written text. I am very matter-of-fact in what I say and sometimes it comes off the wrong way. I apologize if I gave the impression that I'm upset

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

The Saturday game (watching options) was a joke, ND you guys sure are lucky to have such a great TV package. (laughs hysterically)

[mnstate0fhockey]

I think your idea of college hockey TV coverage is pretty distorted when it comes to the national picture. None of the ECAC or Hockey East teams get all their games televised, but nearly all the away games are manageable driving distance. You'll get one B1G or Hockey East game a night/weekend on their channels. The fact that Notre Dame has most of its home games televised on a network that is nationally available is pretty unique.

As far as the camera angles, they do suck. I love Notre Dame's arena, but frankly that's one area that they didn't plan enough for. An extra 1k in seats would have been nice too, but oh well.

The game on Saturday wasn't televised, it was streamed. And it was borderline unwatchable. I'd take the Anchorage game feeds over that hot mess any day. At least the commercials were entertaining

[mnstate0fhockey]

Calm down. It's not that name recognition is doing anythign for us. But consider four team names, assume they are all equally ranked in polls/PWR/Krach.

Notre Dame
RPI
Quinipiac
Boston University.

Which two opponents will be most interesting to people? Even if all 4 teams are identical in every way 95% of people would rather play ND and BU.

No disagreement there. And if people are just talking about whom our own fan base would like to see us play more, the argument is more valid. I just think too much praise is being thrown at a Notre Dame program that has had some long stretches of mediocrity in it's history. They are a great program now, and I like to see the Gophers play great teams, but from an excitement stand point playing Notre Dame is no different to me than playing a team like Miami Ohio.

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

(a) Not very many programs that don't recruit our in-state hockey players
(b) Football scheduling shouldn't have anything to do with it - they have their own longstanding traditions
(c) It was Minnesota - along with the other five B1G hockey schools - that started the whole realignment movement. Notre Dame is not a Big Ten school in any other sport, so who are we to tell them that they should be for hockey? All of the other schools did (or tried to do) what they thought was in their best interest.

Given the new alignment, which is now reality, I like the direction Minnesota has taken. This includes playing all four of the other in-State teams while scheduling some very challenging non-conference games (like BC and Notre Dame, and UND in a couple years).

mnstate summed it up.

Notre Dame is not a national name in hockey. They are adequate and the reason they are adequate is due to their football program. Just a few measures: they have a small fanbase, they have poor coverage, its not a very old program and they have no titles. Should we play them? Sure. Should we play them 8 times? I think its excessive and would like to see us play other schools (other NCHC schools, BU, etc). We owe Lucia a lot...I just don't think we owe Notre Dame that much.

[Bertogliat]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

Keep hearing people talk about Notre Dame's "national name recognition". I don't mind playing them in hockey because they are a good program and a good test for our team that will prepare us well for the post season, but Notre Dame's "national name recognition" doesn't do one iota for us in hockey. Look at the crappy TV coverage that "national name recognition" got them in hockey. We do far more for them when we play then they could ever do for us. So please, stop throwing that out there.

Calm down. It's not that name recognition is doing anythign for us. But consider four team names, assume they are all equally ranked in polls/PWR/Krach.

Notre Dame
RPI
Quinipiac
Boston University.

Which two opponents will be most interesting to people? Even if all 4 teams are identical in every way 95% of people would rather play ND and BU.

[candycanes99]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

Keep hearing people talk about Notre Dame's "national name recognition". I don't mind playing them in hockey because they are a good program and a good test for our team that will prepare us well for the post season, but Notre Dame's "national name recognition" doesn't do one iota for us in hockey. Look at the crappy TV coverage that "national name recognition" got them in hockey. We do far more for them when we play then they could ever do for us. So please, stop throwing that out there.

I think your idea of college hockey TV coverage is pretty distorted when it comes to the national picture. None of the ECAC or Hockey East teams get all their games televised, but nearly all the away games are manageable driving distance. You'll get one B1G or Hockey East game a night/weekend on their channels. The fact that Notre Dame has most of its home games televised on a network that is nationally available is pretty unique.

As far as the camera angles, they do suck. I love Notre Dame's arena, but frankly that's one area that they didn't plan enough for. An extra 1k in seats would have been nice too, but oh well.

[mnstate0fhockey]

(a) Not very many programs that don't recruit our in-state hockey players
(b) Football scheduling shouldn't have anything to do with it - they have their own longstanding traditions
(c) It was Minnesota - along with the other five B1G hockey schools - that started the whole realignment movement. Notre Dame is not a Big Ten school in any other sport, so who are we to tell them that they should be for hockey? All of the other schools did (or tried to do) what they thought was in their best interest.

Given the new alignment, which is now reality, I like the direction Minnesota has taken. This includes playing all four of the other in-State teams while scheduling some very challenging non-conference games (like BC and Notre Dame, and UND in a couple years).

I don't mind playing Notre Dame either, but let's stop acting like they're doing us favors. If anything, it's the other way around in this sport. (Replied to you, but not directed at you).

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

(a) Not very many programs that don't recruit our in-state hockey players
(b) Football scheduling shouldn't have anything to do with it - they have their own longstanding traditions
(c) It was Minnesota - along with the other five B1G hockey schools - that started the whole realignment movement. Notre Dame is not a Big Ten school in any other sport, so who are we to tell them that they should be for hockey? All of the other schools did (or tried to do) what they thought was in their best interest.

Given the new alignment, which is now reality, I like the direction Minnesota has taken. This includes playing all four of the other in-State teams while scheduling some very challenging non-conference games (like BC and Notre Dame, and UND in a couple years).

[mnstate0fhockey]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

Keep hearing people talk about Notre Dame's "national name recognition". I don't mind playing them in hockey because they are a good program and a good test for our team that will prepare us well for the post season, but Notre Dame's "national name recognition" doesn't do one iota for us in hockey. Look at the crappy TV coverage that "national name recognition" got them in hockey. We do far more for them when we play then they could ever do for us. So please, stop throwing that out there.

[goldy_331]

Re: Minnesota at Notre Dame 11/8 & 11/9

Why is there such a consternation among many of you regulars over playing Notre Dame? They seem to be a quality opponent which, with a good showing by us, can only help us at the end of the year in the power rankings and experience ( solid defensive style, good goaltending and different rink size { when playing there }) If it is only because you hate them, that is not quite enough. Elaborate, but don't go too deep. I'm not that smart.

I was more than fine with it until I saw the crappy TV coverage we got from there.

See I like that they are a quality program of the type the Gophs will likely meet in playoffs, they have a high national name recognition and I still remember when they were in the WCHA and a regular opponent. (Two guys I graduated high school with went there and played for Lefty for 4 years and I got to see them come to then Williams Arena.)

[mnstate0fhockey]

Why is there such a consternation among many of you regulars over playing Notre Dame? They seem to be a quality opponent which, with a good showing by us, can only help us at the end of the year in the power rankings and experience ( solid defensive style, good goaltending and different rink size { when playing there }) If it is only because you hate them, that is not quite enough. Elaborate, but don't go too deep. I'm not that smart.

Some Gopher fans have expressed their displeasure with Notre Dame's refusal to visit Minnesota for football and their spurn of the Big Ten and have said they'd prefer we didn't play them in hockey (which is just helping them out with recruiting in-state). I don't have strong feelings either way, but I understand the opinion.

Coach Jackson:

"We need to stay in Minnesota. We recruit there and have gotten some good players out of the state and I don't want to stop," Jackson states.

"We want to keep going back. We will continue to play Duluth and Minnesota for the next couple of years. And we'll look into playing St. Cloud and Minnesota State down the road. We want to continue to play teams in the state."

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